Ethnic differences in Educational Achievement

Question 1

External factors

Answer 1

Material deprivation
Cultural deprivation
Values and attitudes
Language

Question 2

Internal factors

Answer 2

Labelling theory
Class and identity
Streaming
Subculture
Institutional Racism
Curriculum

Question 3

Material deprivation

External

Answer 3

Economic factors - the lower the person’s class the lower the income. Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Afro-Caribbean pupils are more likely to be raised by low-income families.

• Therefore, educational underachievement can be explained in terms of social class and economic disadvantage rather than ethnicity.

Question 4

Cultural deprivation theory

External

Question 5

cultural deprivation,
- Cognitive development

External

Answer 5

Intellectual and linguistic skills may be underdeveloped. Parents of low income (Bangladeshi and Black families) do not engage and stimulate their children, leaving them poorly equipped for school.

Question 6

Cultural deprivation,
- Linguistic skills

External

Answer 6

Those who use broken English or not English as a first language will often have low educational attainment. (Engelmann) Black American children from low-income families their language skills were inadequate.

Question 7

Cultural deprivation,
- Attitudes and Values

External

Answer 7

Many ethnic minority parents have high aspirations for their children. Although theorists argue that Afro-Caribbean children are socialized into a ‘subculture’ which is fatalistic and focuses on immediate gratification resulting in the lack of motivation succeed.

Question 8

Cultural deprivation,
- Family structure

External

Answer 8

Afro-Caribbean families have a high rate of one parent households which leads to an absence of male role models. The New Right, (Murray) the high level of single parent households and a lack for male role models was being a major factor in under achievement in some ethnic groups

Question 9

Labelling theory

Internal

Answer 9

interactionalist focuses on the fact that small scale interactions between students and teachers can have an impact on the pupil’s achievement.

Question 10

Labelling theory within Ethnic Minorities
Black Pupils

Internal

Answer 10

Black pupils (Bourne and Foster) Black boys often get seen as threats and as such labelled negatively leading to more exclusions, therefore causes a lack of achievement. (Gillborn and Youdell) Teachers were quicker to discipline Black pupils than ithers for similar behaviors, teachers hold ‘racialized expectations.

(Mirza study of Black girls who rejected negative labels and still succeeded)

Question 11

Pupil Subcultures

Internal

Answer 11

Sewell carried out a study on Afro-Caribbean students, found that pupils adopted a range of responses to teachers racist labelling.
This is an important study as it shows the variety of black pupils’ responses to racism in school varies considerably, not all pupils react in a negative way to teachers labelling

Question 12

Institutional racism,
- Setting and Streaming

Internal

Answer 12

Setting and streaming – A study by (Gillborn and Youdell) found that black pupils are less likely to be in a lower stream and entered for lower tier GCSEs.

Question 13

institutional Racism,
- Marketisation

Internal

Answer 13

Marketisation - (Gillborn) argues that negative stereotypes of certain ethnic groups may influence the schools’ admissions procedures. The selection procedure can be used by schools to filter out ethnic minority groups that are a ‘liability’